


Beyond What We Say

by lynndaem



Category: B.A.P, K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, I just had a lot of feelings so here are my feelings, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, soulmates can be platonic too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-02 00:30:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19188277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynndaem/pseuds/lynndaem
Summary: The thing about soulmates and soul marks is that no one really understands how they work, just, that they do.Sometimes a soul mark signaled a person who was supposed to be a romantic partner, sometimes, it was a chance at a lifelong friend. Either way, the scribbles of human interaction adorned everyone's bodies. Some people lived life with only one or two marks, others with many spontaneous phrases in strange places, and in rare cases, some have lived their life without a single word inked into their skin.They say the words appear before you are destined to meet your soulmate, sometimes days or months in advance, always appearing to be written by hand though never by the hand of the soulmate. The stylistic appearances were said to reflect the essence of the soulmate and the way in which the words are said during that first meeting.





	1. Bang Yongguk

When Yongguk had been younger, he had been fascinated by the idea of soul marks.

It had started out as a childlike wonder at the words carefully etched into the skin of the adults around him. His favourite words were the ones that connected his mother to his father. The words were almost delicately written down the side of her hand, as if written just as carefully as they had been said.

His mum had told him the story of her words probably a hundred times with the same fond smile on her face as Yongguk sat in her lap, his little fingers tracing over the words adorning her hand.

She had still been in school when they had appeared, young and in love with her high school sweetheart. The appearance of the words had upset him and he had become jealous of the mere thought of her soulmate coming into her life despite the pair being happily in teenage love. So he broke up with her one sunny afternoon in the park and left her alone and crying on the bench.

She would tell Yongguk of all the dramatic encounters she had imagined when she had first noticed her words, her teenage heart stuck on the sort of stuff that made up the plots of the dramas she liked to watch. Never did she imagine for her soulmate to sit next to her on that park bench and open his umbrella over her head and whisper softly, “It’s okay, we can share my umbrella” as if the tears on her cheeks were merely raindrops.

 

Yongguk had been thinking about his mother’s story a lot lately, finding himself pressing his palm over the words decorating his ribs, just a bit beneath his heart. They almost felt heavy against his skin, each letter pulsing with the slow beat of his heart as if to remind him of their presence. The words had appeared not too long after he had been signed with TS entertainment and had begun his training for eventual debut. He had met the other four members of the tentative group, having grown closer to them all over the months of training despite his initial disappointment that the words didn’t belong to any of them.

The words on his ribs were his first thought when they had been given the news that someone new would be joining TS. The others, however, hadn’t taken the news of a new trainee joining their little mismatched family so late in the game with the same sort of curiosity: Himchan had expressed that he didn’t understand why they needed another member, Youngjae had become bitter with himself for not being able to carry the vocal load on his own, and Jongup and Junhong both questioned if the new addition would even be able to catch up with everything they had been practicing.

With the mix of negative emotions and uncertainty, Yongguk volunteered to meet the new trainee first, leaving the others in the practice room once he had gotten the text from the manager.

He turned over how he would greet their newest member in his head, wondering if he should introduce himself first or if their manager had already explained who he was. He rubbed at his chest absentmindedly as he wandered down the hall, imagining what it would be like to have such mundane words tattooed on your skin. How lame would it be if his first words to someone were literally, “Hi, I’m Bang Yongguk”.

No magical mystery, no dramatic meeting to imagine.

He signed, stopping in front of the closed office door and finally letting his hand drop away from his side. He knocked lightly and then eased the door open, his gaze immediately going to the unfamiliar face of the boy sat at the conference table.

“Yongguk! Did the others not come? It’s no matter, I know how hard they are working. This is Daehyun, he just got in from Busan…” The manager clasped his hand on Daehyun’s shoulder, smiling brightly, “His training can start tomorrow, why don’t you all take the rest of the day off and get to know one another?”

Yongguk nods his head as the manager gives Daehyun’s shoulder a small squeeze before he heads to the door, patting Yongguk’s shoulder on his way out of the office.

The silence is tense, almost uncertain, and Yongguk is afraid to break it. Afraid to be the first one to speak.

“So… I make six, right?”

Every ounce of weight that had been pressing on Yongguk’s chest is gone in an instant, replaced by a light, almost weightless feeling. He finds himself smiling despite the worry he had had about his words, his hand pressing against his ribs now in fondness as he nods, “Yeh. Six. It’s a good number.”


	2. Kim Himchan

Himchan couldn’t remember a time in which he liked the idea of soul marks.

He grew up with parents who weren’t technically soulmates by societies standards because they didn’t share unwanted, magical tattoos with one another. Their love for each other was still strong despite the fact that they were outliers, but it had taught Himchan from a young age that it didn’t matter what people said about soulmates and soul marks, he would always have the chance to chose who he loved for himself.

So yeah, Himchan thought the idea of predestined relationships was a load of bullshit. The idea that random words etched into his skin could possibly form a meaningful connection just sounded like it was destined to fail, because for any relationship to work whether it be platonic or romantic, both sides had to be willing to work to make it succeed. No flowery, unwanted words could replace that hard work.

He had stopped checking his body for soul marks years ago, focusing instead on his own health and happiness over the years so that was probably why he hadn’t even noticed the appearance of the words scrawled across his hip. In fact, Youngjae had been the one to point the soul mark out when Himchan had lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face one day at practice.

He’d rolled his eyes at the curiosity the vocalist had shown in his words. Himchan was used to people being enthralled by the idea of soulmates and guessing what the words could mean based on the way they were written, but that didn’t make it any less annoying for him especially now that he had words of his own. He supposed he should have shown at least some sort of curiosity over them, but he was honestly already so over the idea that he forgot they were even there once Youngjae had stopped asking about the mark.

That was, until he started to _feel_ things.

It was like a constant prickling against his skin, not quite painful but rather more annoying. It was almost as if someone were trying to tickle him but was doing a very poor job at it. He’d assumed at first that he had some sort of rash or maybe a bug bite, but when he lifted his shirt to check, he saw his forgotten words and let out a hefty sigh.

They say only 1 in 5 people feel things from their soul marks before meeting their soulmates.

Of course, this would be his luck.

 

Himchan had been dealing with the sporadic prickling sensation on his hip for at least a month now, the feeling reaching a near constant when they had been gathered and told that a sixth and final member would be joining their group. Himchan had initially expressed his displeasure along side the other, though he relented after Youngjae admitted to him that it would be nice to have someone help carry the vocal load for their songs.

It didn’t mean he was any happier about the addition, however.

Yongguk had left nearly half an hour earlier to go meet the newest member of their group. Fifteen minutes after he had left, Himchan’s phone pinged and the screen lit up. He unlocked his phone, opening the group kakao chat and taking note first of the numbers slowly disappearing as the others likewise checked the notification to see what Yongguk had said.

                Bbang: _The words were his._

Himchan frowns, watching three more messages come across his screen as the others began to react to the news.

                Guppie : _That is really cool, hyung. Does he seem nice?_

                Zelo : _What did it feel like, hyung? Was it like how they describe it in the movies?_

                Yjayo : _When do we get to meet him?_

His frown only deepens as the conversation dissolves into the maknae line debating on what sort of connection Yongguk’s words would end up being and continuing to question Yongguk about their newest member. Apparently, his name was Daehyun and it was his first time in Seoul and Yongguk was already worried about overwhelming him. Himchan scratched absentmindedly at his hip, finally adding in his own comment into the chat when Yongguk began to explain how they had been given the rest of the day off so they could get to know Daehyun.

                Channieeeeee : _How about we have a decent dinner tonight? We will need some stuff from the store._

                Bbang : _That’s actually a really good idea. Youngjae, can you take Jongup and Junhong with you and get what ever Himchan needs for dinner tonight?_

                Yjayo : _:’( but I want to meet Daehyun._

                Bbang : _I actually think he’s your hyung?_

                Yjayo : _Ew._

                Channieeeeee : _Do you want me to cook dinner tonight or not?_

                Yjayo : _Sorry, hyung. Yes, please! I’ll take the maknaes with me and we will get everything super-fast!_

Himchan rolled his eyes, albeit fondly. He knew what Yongguk was playing at with sending Jongup and Junhong to the store with Youngjae and instead of calling Yongguk out on his attempt at trying not to overwhelm Daehyun, he opened the chat between himself and Youngjae and sent him the list of what he would need to make a decent dinner that night without spending too much of their food budget.

He sighed, shoving his phone into his pocket and ignoring the increasing warmth spreading across his soul mark the closer he got to the main office.

When Himchan approached the door, he could hear a light, melodic laugh that was definitely not Yongguk’s, followed by an accented voice that he didn’t recognize. He still didn’t like the idea of adding in a sixth member to their group when they had already spent so long training as five. He tried his best to school his features though as he pushed open the door.

Before he could even say anything, Yongguk was on his feet, “Himchan! Hey, this is Daehyun… Daehyun, this is Himchan. I’ll go get hyung so we can get a ride back to the dorm, okay?” Yongguk flashes his gummy smile first at Daehyun, and then at Himchan, dropping his voice to a whisper when he passed Himchan, “Please, be nice…” He warns, earning another one of Himchan’s signature eye rolls.

Himchan crosses his arms, leaning against the doorway as Daehyun carefully stands from the conference table, picking up the luggage that had been at his feet. He waits until he’s positive that Yongguk is out of earshot before he speaks, “Just because they want you to join our group, it doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

The words come out a bit harsher than Himchan intended, but Daehyun doesn’t look at all surprised. Instead, he gives Himchan a small, almost sad smile as he nods his head. “It’s okay. I understand.”

The words are soft when Daehyun carefully passes Himchan to stand in the hallway and Himchan doesn’t miss the way he favours his left foot. In fact, Himchan would be willing to bet that it’s because of the sudden, white hot pain dancing across his skin. At least, that’s what the words feel like on his hip.


	3. Yoo Youngjae

Youngjae found soul marks to be interesting.

There were a lot of similarities in experiences with soulmates leading to a bunch of stereotypes when it came to soul marks, but there were still cases that were so odd that nothing could be said definitively about the marks.

Youngjae had two other soul marks that had appeared before he began his training under TS. Neither had been spectacular or awe-inspiring experiences like he’d seen in dramas or read in books. In fact, he didn’t really feel anything at all from his soul marks. It wasn’t an uncommon phenomenon to not feel your soul marks and Youngjae accepted his disappointing reality that he was just one of the vast majority who just had pretty words adorning his skin and nothing more.

At least, that had been his reality until his third soul mark had appeared shortly after he had joined TS.

It had appeared suddenly and all at once over his heart, nearly knocking the breath out of him. He had done a lot of reading on soul marks, possibly more than even Yongguk who was just as fascinated by them as he was. Though none of the formal data was conclusive, Youngjae knew the statistics surrounding specific locations for soul marks. How often platonic soulmate marks were in the weird areas like the back of the calf or in the crook of an elbow, and how possible romantic soulmate marks would appear in more intimate areas.  

Not that Youngjae wanted to jump to any conclusions over his newest soul mark, but he couldn’t help but speculate given that this was the only mark he could _feel_.

It was more than the ever-present thrum of the mark. It was the comfort Youngjae found in the words. On particularly rough days during vocal training, when he couldn’t quite reach the notes that were expected of him, he would feel the warmth radiating from his soul mark, as if a gentle hand were being placed over his heart.

When they had been given the news that a sixth member would join their group, another vocalist that would split lines with Youngjae, he was bitter. Bitter that their managers didn’t think he could handle all of the lines on his own—bitter that he _knew_ he couldn’t handle the lines on his own no matter how hard he tried.

The warm comfort he once felt seemed more like heartburn these days.

 

Youngjae began to wonder if he was having a heart attack and was ignoring the symptoms in favour of thinking it had something to do with his soul mark. He tried to plead his case to Yongguk after he texted that Daehyun shared his soul mark, stating that he wanted to meet Daehyun too, to see if he was the cause for the words currently weighing heavily over his heart.

Yongguk seemed sympathetic, but, in the end Youngjae had still been sent with the maknaes to get the ingredients for dinner. It was an entirely too long process despite Youngjae’s strategic planning to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible. By the time they made it back to the dorm Daehyun was laying down to rest before dinner, something about being tired from traveling to Seoul from Busan. Sure, Youngjae understood obviously, but that didn’t mean he didn’t sulk over the fact that he had to wait even longer now to meet him.

At least his soul mark had stopped feeling like a heart attack by the time Himchan announced that dinner was done and Yongguk requested for someone to wake Daehyun up—an opportunity that Youngjae obviously jumped at.

He carefully approached the bed, resting his hand over his soul mark and rubbing his fingers into his skin to dispel the fluttering feeling in his chest. He stepped up on the bottom rung of the ladder to get to the top bunk, quickly reaching over to gently shake Daehyun’s shoulder. “Dinner’s done. Are you hungry?”

Daehyun’s shoulders scrunched up as he turned his face into his pillow just a little more with a soft hum. “Those are my favourite words to hear.”

His voice was sleepy, slow and languid, but somehow teasing as if his response was his favourite joke. Before Youngjae could even wonder if Daehyun was actually awake and aware of where he was at, the boy was sitting up so suddenly in bed that Youngjae nearly startled off the ladder.

“They are your words?” Daehyun asks, astonished now and Youngjae frowns at the feeling pressing against his chest. He nods slowly, stepping off the ladder and moving out of the way so Daehyun can get out of bed. “Where are they at? I-if you don’t mind me asking?”

Youngjae finds himself tugging the collar of his shirt to the side, so that the edges of his words are visible and Daehyun seems surprised by the placement, a smile tugging at his lips, “We’re mirrored… Yours are on my back, but same location…”

He finds himself smiling at that thought. Mirrored, like a reflection. Youngjae liked the sound of that.


	4. Moon Jongup and Choi Junhong

Jongup had some reservations about soul marks and the general idea of soulmates. Junhong, on the other hand, thought the idea of being linked to someone through a mystical divine intervention was just awesome.

It hadn’t surprised anyone at the company when the two maknaes showed off their matching soul marks. Down the back of Jongup’s right forearm was a messy, nervous scrawl of “so, do you like pokemon?”, while the back of Junhong’s left forearm had a steadfast and sure “absolutely”. The two were proud of their soul marks, using the instant connection to pull them closer together until they were practically inseparable.

Himchan would often get frustrated with the pair of them when they would make a show of giving each other looks as if they were communicating silently. He would throw his hands up in exasperation at the display, crying out that he knew soul marks didn’t magically give anyone the ability to read their soulmate’s mind.

Youngjae would hum and muse that he thought he had read a case study once where soulmates had proven to be able to communicate through their marks, much to Himchan’s chagrin. Both Jongup and Junhong enjoyed Youngjae’s naturally sassy behavior the more they got to know him, though as time went on, they began to grow disappointed that Youngjae wasn’t also connected to them through soul marks.

Because, other than their matching soul marks, Junhong and Jongup both had a second soul mark. Their words were identical on Junhong’s thigh and on Jongup’s shoulder blade. Himchan never wanted to talk or speculate about their soul marks but Youngjae had guessed at first that it was just a coincidence, while Yongguk insisted that it meant that the two were destined to meet someone very important to their lives at the same time.

Naturally, that thought pulled them even closer as they didn’t want to miss the chance to meet their soulmate because they were apart.

 

When they had been given the news about a new member joining the group, they both raised questions on if he would be able to learn all of the choreography for their debut in time.

Unlike Himchan, neither were necessarily upset by the idea of a new member. Rather, they spent their free time speculating if he would be a decent dancer or if they would have to work harder to mask the lack of natural dance skill the rest of the group as a whole possessed.

When the day finally came to meet their newest member, it seemed like everything was only delaying the process. First, they had to go with Youngjae to get stuff for dinner. Then, Jongup forgot his bag in the dance studio and they had to go back for it. They dealt with a crowded store and a long line once they got everything they needed, only to make it home to find out that Daehyun was sleeping off the travel lag.

Junhong had wanted to protest Youngjae being the one to get to wake Daehyun up, but Jongup held him back, knowing that Youngjae was just as eager as they were. Yongguk and Himchan both had shared soul marks with Daehyun already, and Youngjae had been talking in hushed tones about how he felt like his mark was trying to tell him that this was it.

Statistically it was unlikely that Daehyun would match with Yongguk, Himchan, Youngjae _and_ them, so Jongup didn’t want to get his hopes up.

Junhong, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his fingers away from his thigh where he constantly drummed on his soul mark, wanting to feel some sort of spark the way Youngjae described his feeling. He didn’t let his hopes get too high, not wanting his first interaction with Daehyun to be that of disappointment in case the words didn’t belong to him.

Daehyun’s hair was messy when he finally came out of the room with Youngjae, light lines from the pillow having left indentations on his cheek. Before he could formally introduce himself, Junhong spoke up, “Do you have any more soul marks?”

Jongup looks surprised, smacking Junhong’s arm lightly, “You can’t just ask someone that…” He looks at Daehyun now, his cheeks flushed as he apologizes quietly, “I’m sorry, he’s just excited.”

Daehyun looks between the two of them, utter surprise on his face as he looks to Youngjae at his side, his gaze sliding past the maknaes to where Yongguk and Himchan were at in the kitchen before finally returning back to Jongup and Junhong. “I seem to have your words, too.”


	5. Jung Daehyun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I double posted today, make sure you read the Jongup/Junhong chapter!

Daehyun was an anomaly.

He loved each and every one of his soul marks, but he wasn’t delusional enough to believe that his marks were anything but abnormal.

Most people received their first soul mark once they began to branch out into the world and make deeper connections past the school yard friendships. Of course, there were always outliers in these cases, but for Daehyun, his soul marks didn’t just come a little early. His first mark appeared when he was only five and didn’t understand what it was or what it could mean. He had thought another kid had drawn on him while he was napping and had spend so long scrubbing at the inked words that his skin was raw and red by the time someone realized what he was doing.

He didn’t really understand what the words said or were supposed to mean, but his mum had reassured him that he wasn’t in trouble because they had appeared and that was all he needed to know.

By the time he was twelve, Daehyun had eight soul marks scattered across his body. Some were silly, his favourite so far being the carefully written “Do you speak English?” that was written on the soft underside of his upper arm. Despite the language barrier, the mark had appeared and Daehyun always found joy in the idea of impacting someone’s life in such a way that the universe decided it needed to be documented.

His mum would say that it was because he just had a lot of love to give, and Daehyun couldn’t really deny the idea that he truly loved each and every one of his soul marks, including the five new ones that began to show up around his thirteenth birthday when he began realistically thinking about becoming a singer.

The first two that he noticed were written in the crook of each elbow, one side reading _“Do you have any more soul marks?”_ while the other read _“I’m sorry, he’s just excited.”_ The words stirred a sort of excitement in Daehyun, clearly, someone was expecting him to have a soul mark. Daehyun wondered if the pair went together, maybe there was more than one person waiting to meet him.

The third one, he didn’t even realize was there until he got a haircut. On his neck in small, delicate letters were the words _“Yeh. Six. It’s a good number.”_ He’d had his barber take a photo of the words so he could look at them, carefully tracing his finger over the phone screen though he had long since memorized the loops of letters.

Six. Why was six important? Did it have to do with his other two tattoos? Were their now five people out there waiting for him?

Daehyun was used to the low thrums of his soul marks, the words tattooing his body always leaving him with the feeling of a metaphysical hug. That’s why when the soul mark appeared on the side of his heal with a flash of pain, Daehyun didn’t know what to make of it.

Most of his words were curious, pleasant greetings and silly first encounters.

He cried for a week when he had read them, refusing to let anyone see the words on his heel and pretending like he had just twisted his ankle and that was why he was limping. _“Just because they want you to join our group, it doesn’t mean we’re friends.”_

Daehyun tried to ignore the pang in his heart every time he thought about the words, trying to focus on the imagined fingers gently brushing across the back of his neck and the warmth of two people on either side of him.   

He had contemplated giving up his dream of singing a few times, finally talking to his family about the harsh sentence on his heel and his worries that some time in the future, he would be signed to an agency and no body would like him.

His mum had sat down next to him, rubbing a soothing hand over his back. Daehyun knew she was only trying to comfort him, but he jerked away when her fingers brushed down past his shoulder blade. That night they found a new soul mark, and if he had been right about the one on the base of his neck, then it was the last in the set.

_“Dinner’s done. Are you hungry?”_

His family had laughed in good humor at the words, making Daehyun smile with their light teases that of course they were first words, because anyone who knew him knew that he was always hungry. The mark left a gentle pressure on his back, almost directly behind his heart, always nudging him to keep moving forward.

His parents and brother would often use the phrase in full every time he was called down for dinner and though Daehyun knew the words didn’t belong to them, he still got a fluttering feeling in his chest when he heard them. He began referring to them as his favourite words, joking to anyone who questioned him that it was because it was about food not because of the immense comfort he felt when he thought about their presence.

 

Daehyun wondered about his soul marks more these days. Ever since he had agreed to join TS as a trainee and move to Seoul so that he could debut, he had felt overwhelmed. The pain in his heel was worse than it ever had been, but the pain was balanced out by a weird feeling of eager and excited that seemed to constantly pull at his arms to propel him forward. The mark at the back of his neck felt cool, almost like the gentle whisper of a steady breeze, reminding him to stay focused and to not get caught up in all of it.

His favourite was still the mark on his back, the imagined press of a hand behind his heart that grounded him and helped him feel safe in the strange new environment. As if there was always someone behind him, supporting the decisions he made.

Daehyun sat down at the conference table, leg bouncing as he shook out his arms and rolled his neck.

He had a really good feeling about this.


End file.
